Anybody who has played goaltender (anywhere, ice hockey, ball hockey, rod hockey) will tell you: it blows to play behind a crappy team. They'll also tell you it sucks to play behind a team that takes too many penalties, pretty much guaranteeing you see more puck than a goaltender for Mongolia.

We spend a lot of time slicing and dicing goaltending statistics, trying to isolate variables and determine talent, but we don't always look at what kind of team is playing in front of them. There's a reason for that; lest I be guilty of bearing the lede, Fenwick Close had zero correlation with 5v5 save percentage this last year, and in fact has had a slight negative correlation with 5v5 save percentage over the last five seasons.

Which is to say, just because your team sucks, doesn't mean you suck. As a goaltender. I'm sure you're a nice person normally.

So what I really want to look at is the crapped-upon goaltenders, the guys who fought valiantly (or, half the time, pathetically) in the face of Tambellinian hockey.

Basically, I constructed an index number based on a number of metrics, covering both the team on the ice and the situations it subjects its goaltenders to. The first factor is "5v5 Fenwick/60" or the team in front of the goaltender analyzed by 5v5 Fenwick ratio when the goaltender actually was on the ice.

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

Fnwk ON

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

Fnwk ON

1

Josh Harding

MIN

34

44.548

39

Ray Emery

CHI

34

52.324

2

Niklas Backstrom

MIN

46

45.200

40

Jonathan Quick

L.A

69

52.897

3

Pekka Rinne

NSH

73

45.257

41

Martin Biron

NYR

21

52.933

4

Jhonas Enroth

BUF

26

45.652

42

Corey Crawford

CHI

57

52.949

5

Miikka Kiprusoff

CGY

70

46.328

43

Jaroslav Halak

STL

46

53.297

6

Devan Dubnyk

EDM

47

46.834

44

Marc-Andre Fleury

PIT

67

53.906

7

Curtis Sanford

CBJ

36

46.944

45

Chris Mason

WPG

20

54.008

8

Tomas Vokoun

WSH

48

46.972

46

Brian Elliott

STL

38

54.222

9

Cam Ward

CAR

68

47.311

47

Tuukka Rask

BOS

23

54.500

10

Sergei Bobrovsky

PHI

29

47.319

48

Jimmy Howard

DET

57

54.509

I put the cutoff at 20 games played. Some of these names shouldn't be surprising, as the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues were among the worst and best Fenwick Close teams this year, respectively. Pekka Rinne's case being the selection to join Jonathan Quick and Henrik Lundqvist in the Vezina Trophy voting is certainly strengthened here.

Another factor I included was the on-ice shooting percentage for that goaltender's team (in other words, not the shooting the goaltender faced, but what his team's offence provided on the other end).

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

S%

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

S%

1

Josh Harding

MIN

34

5.680

39

Jaroslav Halak

STL

46

9.835

2

Niklas Backstrom

MIN

46

6.223

40

Ray Emery

CHI

34

9.960

3

Curtis Sanford

CBJ

36

6.838

41

Mathieu Garon

T.B

48

10.584

4

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

COL

32

6.996

42

Martin Biron

NYR

21

10.655

5

Jose Theodore

FLA

53

7.091

43

Corey Crawford

CHI

57

10.895

6

Evgeni Nabokov

NYI

42

7.208

44

Tim Thomas

BOS

59

11.232

7

Steve Mason

CBJ

46

7.375

45

Chris Mason

WPG

20

11.284

8

Cam Ward

CAR

68

7.433

46

Sergei Bobrovsky

PHI

29

11.993

9

Nikolai Khabibulin

EDM

40

7.519

47

Marc-Andre Fleury

PIT

67

12.351

10

Tomas Vokoun

WSH

48

7.590

48

Jimmy Howard

DET

57

12.358

Kind of a sweet deal you had there, Jimmy. Also notice Sergei Bobrovsky with the jump from one side to the other. For the next metric, I had to do a little building, taking time on-ice at 5v5, 5v4, and 4v5, then determining what percentage of the total of those times were consumed by 4v5 time.

I gave it the thrilling name "4v5%".

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

4v5%

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

4v5%

1

Cory Schneider

VAN

33

10.953

39

Ray Emery

CHI

34

8.132

2

Craig Anderson

OTT

63

10.626

40

Cam Ward

CAR

68

7.840

3

Josh Harding

MIN

34

10.547

41

Pekka Rinne

NSH

73

7.767

4

Nikolai Khabibulin

EDM

40

10.543

42

Ryan Miller

BUF

61

7.742

5

Sergei Bobrovsky

PHI

29

10.514

43

Corey Crawford

CHI

57

7.736

6

Kari Lehtonen

DAL

59

10.471

44

Martin Biron

NYR

21

7.587

7

Carey Price

MTL

65

10.414

45

Evgeni Nabokov

NYI

42

7.553

8

Ilya Bryzgalov

PHI

59

10.171

46

Antti Niemi

S.J

68

7.199

9

Jhonas Enroth

BUF

26

10.058

47

Jonas Gustavsson

TOR

42

7.069

10

Jonathan Quick

L.A

69

9.956

48

Scott Clemmensen

FLA

30

6.351

This should call to mind teams that are saddling their goaltenders with tougher minutes (of their total time on-ice) versus teams playing smarter hockey. Cory Schneider's (and Jonathan Quick's) seasons seem more impressive by this metric, for instance.

The final measure I added to the equation was "4v5 FA/60", the "FA" standing for "Fenwick Against." I could care less about shots-for at 4v5, since it's a rare event and means little for the goaltender. On the other hand, I wanted to include this to provide a little adjustment for quality penalty kills that reduce shots-against.

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

4v5 FA/60

Rk

NAME

Tm

GP

4v5 FA/60

1

Dwayne Roloson

T.B

40

82.6

39

Brian Elliott

STL

38

58.6

2

Ray Emery

CHI

34

82.5

40

Semyon Varlamov

COL

53

57.2

3

Evgeni Nabokov

NYI

42

77.4

41

Devan Dubnyk

EDM

47

56.8

4

Scott Clemmensen

FLA

30

75.3

42

Steve Mason

CBJ

46

56.2

5

Mike Smith

PHX

67

74.2

43

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

COL

32

55.2

6

Cam Ward

CAR

68

72.4

44

Marc-Andre Fleury

PIT

67

53.4

7

Kari Lehtonen

DAL

59

69.9

45

Carey Price

MTL

65

53.2

8

James Reimer

TOR

34

69.9

46

Al Montoya

NYI

31

53.2

9

Pekka Rinne

NSH

73

69.2

47

Martin Brodeur

N.J

59

52.1

10

Ondrej Pavelec

WPG

68

68.9

48

Ilya Bryzgalov

PHI

59

51.6

I guess Scott Clemmensen can be thankful he was given so little 4v5 time.

Now, I wanted to put these all together into a composite ranking system, and to be reflective of the amount of ice time a goaltender sees 5v5 versus 4v5 you really have to weigh the 5v5 metrics about 80-20 to the 4v5 metrics (okay, really it'd be more like about 84-16, but the 4v5 metrics mean a little more than that).

Arbitrarily, the 5v5 Fenwick/60 and 5v5 shooting percentage ranks were counted four times apiece towards the composite rank, and the 4v5% and 4v5 FA/60 once apiece. Intuitively, then, we'll see a lot of guys who were hurt by Fenwick, but the other factors will provide some adjustments that could be unexpected.

The crapped-upon and whatever the opposite of crapped-upon would be (sorry for the long table; please stick around for the follow-up):

NAME

Tm

GP

Cmp Rk

Josh Harding

MIN

34

3.6

Niklas Backstrom

MIN

46

5.8

Curtis Sanford

CBJ

36

8.5

Jhonas Enroth

BUF

26

9.3

Cam Ward

CAR

68

11.4

Nikolai Khabibulin

EDM

40

12.6

Tomas Vokoun

WSH

48

12.9

Miikka Kiprusoff

CGY

70

13.4

Devan Dubnyk

EDM

47

16.0

Evgeni Nabokov

NYI

42

16.0

Steve Mason

CBJ

46

16.4

Pekka Rinne

NSH

73

16.6

Jose Theodore

FLA

53

17.9

Mike Smith

PHX

67

19.0

James Reimer

TOR

34

19.0

Scott Clemmensen

FLA

30

19.2

Jonas Hiller

ANA

73

20.0

Jean-Sebastien Giguere

COL

32

21.2

Carey Price

MTL

65

21.6

Ryan Miller

BUF

61

21.8

Kari Lehtonen

DAL

59

22.1

Henrik Lundqvist

NYR

62

22.7

Jonathan Quick

L.A

69

22.7

Dwayne Roloson

T.B

40

22.9

Ondrej Pavelec

WPG

68

23.6

Semyon Varlamov

COL

53

24.2

Sergei Bobrovsky

PHI

29

25.0

Mathieu Garon

T.B

48

25.3

Al Montoya

NYI

31

25.8

Jonas Gustavsson

TOR

42

25.8

Craig Anderson

OTT

63

26.9

Johan Hedberg

N.J

27

27.5

Cory Schneider

VAN

33

29.3

Roberto Luongo

VAN

55

29.8

Brian Elliott

STL

38

29.8

Antti Niemi

S.J

68

31.1

Michal Neuvirth

WSH

38

32.0

Martin Brodeur

N.J

59

33.4

Ray Emery

CHI

34

35.7

Ilya Bryzgalov

PHI

59

36.0

Jaroslav Halak

STL

46

37.5

Martin Biron

NYR

21

38.7

Tim Thomas

BOS

59

38.8

Tuukka Rask

BOS

23

38.9

Corey Crawford

CHI

57

40.0

Chris Mason

WPG

20

41.1

Marc-Andre Fleury

PIT

67

42.4

Jimmy Howard

DET

57

44.8

I used the standard deviation for tiebreakers.

Discussion

As you can see, it was rough to be a Minnesota Wild goaltender this year, and Tambellinian hockey continued to deliver its crappiest goaltending situations. Special attention should go to the players who played well in the tough situations: Jhonas Enroth, Tomas Vokoun, Miikka Kiprusoff, Niklas Backstrom, and Devan Dubnyk all managed 92+ save percentages despite getting crushed by this index. Henrik Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick show up at 22nd and 23rd (right in the middle), while Pekka Rinne and Mike Smith come in 12th and 14th. The St. Louis Blues provided a solid situation for Brian Elliott (35th) and Jaroslav Halak (visible above at 41st).

And really, a lot of the top teams continue to be represented on the right, and it's only a greater indicator of how the top teams provide support for their goaltenders to increase their team's success. On the flip side, hopefully this grants a little more recognition for the guys that truly had to fight through tough seasons (and a lot of crap).

If you want to know the results for any other goaltender, let me know in the comments (and remember, it's for goaltenders over 20 games played).

Benjamin Wendorf was co-manager of the SB Nation Winnipeg Jets blog Arctic Ice Hockey (formerly Behind the Net); he is currently co-editor of Hockey-Graphs.com. He has been writing about NHL analytics for six years. He can be reached via email at wendorf DOT benjamin AT gmail DOT com, and tweets from @BenjaminWendorf.